Review slated for Darwin blackout

A FULL review will be conducted into a power failure that brought the city of Darwin to a near-complete standstill, affecting more than 130,000 people.

14 hours after a tripped circuit breaker at Hudson Creek substation activated a protection system at the Channel Island power station, shutting down its transmission capacity, about 80 per cent of Darwin residents had their power restored.

The blackout stretched all the way to Katherine some 320km south-east, and also affected Palmerston and Pine Creek.

"While it wasn't an emergency situation, it was a crisis," Chief Minister Adam Giles told reporters in Darwin on Wednesday afternoon.

It was catastrophic and unprecedented, said Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie.

"We've never, ever experienced anything like this," she said.

Darwinites sweated it out through a long night where the lowest temperature was just below 26 degrees, and most people had the day off, with schools, the public service and most businesses shut, and the city bus service suspended.

Traffic lights across the city were out until the early afternoon and police were manning intersections.

Emergency services attended several house fires on Wednesday morning, caused by people cooking on camping stoves, but there were no major accidents.

The CBD was almost deserted, and the Mantra Pandanas hotel evacuated guests at about 1.30am, with about 50 people sitting outside on the street in the early morning.

A full review would be conducted within the fortnight, Mr Giles said, including the response of emergency services and the government.

Power Water Corporation (PWC) has a history potted with power failures, and the government has introduced legislation to move it into three separate government-owned enterprises, with the Opposition claiming it is being primed for privatisation.

"The (Country Liberals government) has come into this with an ideological point of view that PWC is a profit-making business; they're putting profit before people," Ms Lawrie said.

"Power & Water is an essential service, not a luxury item. We need it to go about our daily lives."

Mr Giles said $80 million was being spent on repairs and maintenance this year, compared to $61 million in 2010 after the last major blackout.

"It's not very palatable that (Ms Lawrie) wants to play politics on a day that all Territorians suffered, but pulled together in a way only Territorians know how to do," he said.

"We're trying to structure reform and drive competition into (PWC)... if we had more than one company generating power we wouldn't be in this situation."

People inconvenienced by the power outage for 12 hours or more would be eligible for a Power & Water rebate, the government said.